Baby Rachel

Good morning!  Here's Rachel's bright eyes after an early morning feeding while still in the hospital the morning after she was born.

Cute bundle back in her bed.

All ready to go home!  We didn't get very many visitors in the hospital this time because no one wanted to catch the stomach bug we were probably all still contagious from.  :P  Nathan even went home to sleep the night Rachel & I stayed so he could finish recovering better.  It wasn't as daunting as it could have been since this was my third time doing this.  :)

Getting all THREE kids settled in the van.

All snuggled up in her PINK bed at home - I went a little crazy with the pink and butterflies and flowers.  :)

Getting ready to go to Rachel's first doctor's appointment - at two days old because she had a little jaundice they wanted to keep an eye on.

Satisfied once I got her wrapped up tight in her cozy blanket.  She weighed 6 lbs, 8oz.  Our pediatrician discovered that she was tongue-tied, something the pediatrician at the hospital didn't notice.  She seemed to be nursing fine so far, but we didn't want it to affect her speech later on, so we made an appointment with a specialist to get it clipped.

Rachel's first manicure!  I nicked a couple of her finger tips this first time - bad mommy!

After her first sponge bath at home.

"Enjoying" her first tummy time!

Rachel Joy Hughes!

During the night of December 2, 2012, we ALL got the stomach flu.  :(  I had it the lightest, but Nathan got it the worst, and it was a distinct possibility that I might have to go to the hospital by myself to have the baby because Nathan was too sick to leave the house.  Thankfully, God blessed us with better timing, and the sickness was short-lived.  Nathan turned the corner the night of December 3rd, and told me that he could probably come with me (and drive me!) whenever the baby came.

I was having Braxton Hicks contractions regularly throughout this final week, sometimes even 4 minutes apart.  I tried to lay down a lot (seemed to help) and stay hydrated so she would stay inside until we all got better.  The morning of December 4th, around 7 or 8am, the contractions got increasingly intense, even when I was laying down.  We had Nathan's dad take Luke to school and pick up a few BRAT diet staples at the grocery store for us.  Thank you!

I moved from the couch up to my bed to get more comfortable, and the contractions got stronger and closer together.  This was a whole new territory for us because my water broke before any real contractions started with both Luke & Jonathan.  We called the hospital around 9am to see if we should come in and so they would be expecting us.  My contractions shifted to being 3 and 2 minutes apart after we called, so we called Nathan's mom to come over to babysit Jonathan, who was still suffering from the stomach flu (his was staggered a bit later than the rest of us).

I started moving slowly down the stairs in the midst of strong contractions, and Phyllis got here as I neared the bottom of the stairs.  Nathan got me a wheelchair at the hospital again - different this time because we actually pulled up to the main entrance.  Both Luke and Jonathan were middle-of-the-night deliveries.  As I waited for him to come back to the car with the wheelchair, I could start to feel pressure with the contractions - won't be long now!

We managed to get a sample and put my gown on properly (unlike the flurry of Jonathan's labor!), but the pressure got really intense while I was in the hospital bathroom, so I got to the bed as quickly as the pain would allow.  Nathan again played the role of "Get the nurses quick!" for me.  :)  Soon after I got on the bed, my water broke and she was already crowning.  As much as I tried to wait to push (half-heartedly - you try waiting in that situation!), she had other ideas and slid out a contraction or two later at 10:09am (about 30 seconds or 1 minute after my water broke).  She was caught by the delivery nurse because the doctor hadn't gotten there yet.  She could have easily been born on our bed or in the car, but God is good and again allowed us to make it to the hospital bed - great for me because it contains the mess and lets me be around people who know what they're doing to help.

They laid her merely towel-wiped self on me right away - such an amazing and intense start to a new life!  She had fine, dark brown hair, weighed 7lbs, 2oz, was 19" long, and looked a lot like Luke.  We named her Rachel Joy because we had always liked the name "Rachel" (it was our alternate for both Luke & Jonathan in case their ultrasounds turned out to be wrong), and "Joy" after my mom, who was the last grandparent to be honored in our kids' names.  It's also nice that she was born in December to reference the "Joy" of the season when Jesus was born.

Here's a picture Nathan took on his phone while he was holding her.  This is the one that got circulated to share our news.  :)

Grandpa & Grandma Hughes were our first visitors, without the boys this first time.  I don't remember now what Jonathan was doing during this time.

My view of Rachel sleeping in her bassinet from my spot on the bed.  Such a precious miracle of life!

Looking up at Daddy!  She has the classic dark blue newborn eye color.

Jonathan's first meeting with Rachel was a bit reserved and slightly grumpy - but I'll cut him some slack since he was still recovering from being sick.

Our first picture as a family of five!  Rachel is saying, "No pictures please", with that hand covering her face.  :P

Luke holding Rachel for the first time.  :)  He was pretty pleased with his new baby sister, and took his baby-holding task pretty seriously.

Joanna also visited on Rachel's first day out in the open.  Welcome to the world, Rachel Joy!

Getting Ready for Baby!

I helped Nathan put up our Christmas lights on the first of December.  I made it to December!  I was hoping this baby would make it, since Jonathan decided to come sooner than his due date month.  I just hold and unroll the lights for Nathan as he gets up on the ladder.  Now we're ready for the Christmas season to start even if our wee one disrupts some other traditions.  :)

Here's me at 39 weeks!  Baby can come now...

November 2012

Luke riding his bike during a family trip to the park.

Jonathan getting help climbing on the playground equipment - getting braver!

Swinging buddies!

Celebrating Aunt Tara's birthday.

8 months pregnant.

My sweet boys!

Playing knight & prince in the backyard.  Luke got more into it than Jonathan did.  :P

They got along pretty well these days.  :)

37 weeks pregnant - getting closer!

On Thanksgiving Day, Nathan had the fun idea to have a Turkey Hunt with the boys.  We started by making several turkeys out of hand prints on construction paper.  We filled each one with a few candy corns so when they were successfully "hunted" the boys could eat them.  :)

Ready to go!

We had hid some of them in the house...

and some of them in the backyard.

The boys had to find them with minimal help, then shoot them with their dart guns.  Once they got a hit, they could retrieve it and divvy up the candy corns inside.

It's a Thanksgiving tradition for me to forget to take pictures during our family festivities.  :P  But, here are several of the cousins eating dessert together - the first picture taken with my new-to-me iphone!

Enjoying baby James.

We got pictures of both boys with Great Grandma.

Jonathan lining up his cars around the coffee table.  I remember when Luke used to do this a lot.

Airplane time with the cousins!

Taking a "pregnant pause" with my buddy instead of tackling that pile of laundry in the background!  :P

38 weeks pregnant!  This is how far I got with Jonathan's pregnancy.  I was so thankful to make it at least this far again.  :)

Joanna had come over to take my pregnancy picture for me and insisted on getting a friend shot together.  Little did I know, but she was newly pregnant herself!  She wasn't sharing her news yet, but later I found out that we were both pregnant in this picture!

October 2012

Luke had Crazy Sock Night at AWANA.

Luke got the Busy Bee Award at school!

Jonathan trying corn on the cob for the first time.  Here's a video of him eating it.

Our annual Lombardi's trip starts with our family picture - I think it turned out pretty good this year!

Our silly scarecrow.

Boys on top of the hay bale pyramid.

Jonathan was willing to do the cut-out with the yellow tractor.

"Driving" the jail truck.

All the cousins!

The older cousins got to have a train car all to themselves this year.

Picking out pumpkins.

Here are ours - for our "three" kids!  The boys picked out theirs and I found a baby one for our new little girl.

Jonathan enjoyed the playground equipment at the park when we went to play with some of Luke's friends from school.  Here's a video of him on the slide.

My 7 months pregnancy picture - Luke took this one.  :)

Luke helping me juice some limes from the backyard tree.

Our last trip to the zoo with our membership before I get too pregnant.  :)  We had a nice time as a family of four.

Here's a video of Jonathan helping Luke unload the clean silverware from the dishwasher - he says the name of each piece before handing it over.

Jonathan started to say "Go Broncos!" when Nathan would watch football games on TV.  Here's a video of him saying it.  :)

And Luke doesn't want to be left out of the picture taking, often making silly faces like this.  :P

The best picture I got on my camera of the grandkids' Pilgrims & Indians picture for Grandma Hughes' Christmas card.  Check out Jonathan's expression - priceless!

My two little pilgrims!

Phyllis, Jessica & Joanna threw me a nice baby girl shower!  Bring on the pink!

Jonathan helping me load the washing machine.  I usually throw the clothes over the upstairs balcony, then load them from the floor, but with a 7-1/2 months pregnant belly, that was getting harder to do!  Here's a video of him putting a few things in.  :)

Hanging with my little buddy!

Here's a video of him telling the colors on his electronic maraca.

The boys dressed up to go check out the Fall Carnival at Luke's school.  They're wearing modified versions of their upcoming Halloween costumes of a knight and a prince.

All the boy grandkids holding up their t-shirts that Grandpa & Grandma Hughes brought back from Spain.

I made a jack-o-lantern pumpkin pie for Halloween.  Any excuse, right?

The final rendition of the boys' Halloween costumes - Sir Luke and Prince Jonathan!